{"id":114529,"date":"2021-02-26T13:02:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T13:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=114529"},"modified":"2021-02-26T13:02:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T13:02:25","slug":"asylum-seekers-children-among-myanmar-deportees-from-malaysia-rights-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/asylum-seekers-children-among-myanmar-deportees-from-malaysia-rights-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Asylum-seekers, children among Myanmar deportees from Malaysia: rights groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – At least nine asylum-seekers and two unaccompanied children were among a group of Myanmar nationals deported by Malaysia this week, despite a court order halting the plan, rights groups said on Friday.<\/p> Malaysia on Tuesday sent 1,086 Myanmar nationals back on three navy ships sent by Myanmar, a move the groups said could endanger the deportees\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n The Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) said in a statement it had confirmed that two children were separated from their families and deported back to Myanmar alone on the ships.<\/p>\n APRRN, along with three other rights groups, also said there was substantial risk that those deported included refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing ethnic conflict and persecution in Myanmar, where the military seized power in a Feb. 1 coup.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is great fear that life for these ethnic minorities deported back to a military regime will likely worsen,\u201d the groups said.<\/p>\n Malaysia\u2019s immigration department and the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The department has said it did not send back asylum-seekers or Rohingya refugees.<\/p>\n But concerns over the deportation of unregistered asylum-seekers have persisted, as the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has not been allowed to interview immigration detainees since 2019.<\/p>\n James Bawi Thang Bik, of the Alliance of Chin Refugees, said he was told by the Myanmar embassy that nine Chin asylum-seekers were among those deported.<\/p>\n The European Union and the United States have expressed concern over the deportation, which took place hours after a Kuala Lumpur court ordered it to be suspended pending an application by rights groups to challenge the plan.<\/p>\n The groups in their filing had said three U.N.-registered people and 17 minors were on the deportee list. It was unclear if they were sent back.<\/p>\n Malaysia is home to more than 154,000 asylum-seekers from Myanmar.<\/p>\n